44. The conference agreed to discuss the following items in two concurrent working groups: 1) Strategic plan for food safety in Africa and 2) Food safety issues of regional concern. The two working groups were requested to discuss their respective themes and to propose concrete recommendations and practical actions to improve food safety in the region in these specific areas. The conference designated Dr Mohamed Majdi of Morocco as chairperson and Dr Mahamadou Sako of Mali as rapporteur of the first working group and Dr William Ssali of Uganda and Mrs Ethan Talatu of Nigeria as rapporteur of the second working group. The conference expressed their appreciation to these delegates for their agreement to serve in these roles.
45. The Working Group that discussed the recommended five-year strategic plan for food safety in Africa proposed revisions to the draft plan (CRD 20), as well as the draft resolution accompanying the strategic plan. The revisions to the strategic plan and to the resolution were reflected in a second version of these documents that were further discussed in the re-convening of the subsequent plenary session.
46. The discussions of the Working Group on food safety issues of regional concern were enhanced by presentations on the topics of food-borne disease surveillance in the region, as well as mycotoxins and their effects on human health in Africa, which were intended to provide information and to stimulate discussion.
47. Dr Patience Mensah, WHO AFRO, provided information on the status of food-borne disease surveillance systems in the region, and stressed the need for individual countries of the region to collect data and report it to WHO for compilation and dissemination to the other countries of the region.
48. The Working Group noted that symptomatic food-borne disease surveillance is occurring in the region, for example, for cholera, but that the nature of symptomatic surveillance cannot specify the exact causative agent. The Working Group further noted that WHO would soon issue guidelines for conducting food-borne disease surveillance.
49. It was emphasized that laboratory surveillance is needed to determine the causative agents of food-borne diseases, but that this surveillance should be incorporated with the existing integrated disease surveillance system. However, it was emphasized that even if countries do not have strong laboratory structures, they should begin with what resources and infrastructure they have and continue to improve.
50. The Working Group called for an inventory of the laboratory capacity in the countries of the region, which would also allow for identification of Centres of Excellence in various aspects of laboratory food-borne disease surveillance.
51. The Working Group noted that food-borne disease surveillance is an extension of surveillance for other diseases, and should be integrated into such programmes. It was noted that food-borne disease surveillance must include information from medical professionals, food contaminant data, as well as veterinary and other data. The importance of food-borne disease surveillance data being integrated with veterinary surveillance data, especially related to zoonotic diseases from wild animals, was emphasized.
52. The Working Group noted that the countries of the region should be more proactive in seeking assistance from FAO and WHO and that the concerned government agencies must take ownership of projects implemented to ensure its long-term sustainability.
53. Dr Gordon Shephard of South Africa presented on the Mycotoxin situation in Africa. The presentation included information on the detrimental public health and economic effects of mycotoxin consumption in Africa. It was noted that exposure to mycotoxins is extremely wide spread in Africa, as Africans consume large amounts of foods such as maize and sorghum, which often contain high levels of mycotoxins when raised in the hot and humid conditions prevailing in many parts of the region. The speaker also emphasized the need for awareness raising and political commitment to address the issue of mycotoxins, in addition to simply enforcing legislation on the subject. The need for Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Good Storage Practices (GSPs), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), and a HACCP approach was underlined, in addition to the need for the following: effective regional research on the issue, economic incentives for farmers to work to reduce the levels of aflatoxins in their products, education of consumers and producers, training, strengthened laboratory systems, reduction of poverty to decrease the likelihood of people consuming low quality food and improved agriculture extension services.
54. Dr Kafui Kpodo of Ghana presented on the Exposure to aflatoxins through food: a silent public health emergency. The presentation demonstrated that the levels of mycotoxins in various food products in selected countries of the region are excessively higher than the regulatory limits for exports into the EU and the US and the level recommended by Codex. The speaker also outlined several recommendations to address the issue of mycotoxins in Africa, including the following (those not indicated by the previous speaker): encourage national governments to recognize the importance of mycotoxins, utilize a multi-disciplinary approach, develop emergency assistance systems to replace unsafe foods with safe foods in times of crises, validation of rapid and practical methods for screening of mycotoxins in an African context and establishment of regional centers of excellence in mycotoxins.
55. The Working Group recognized the need to utilize the alarming information provided in the presentations to obtain the political commitment necessary to effectively and sustainably address the issue of mycotoxins in the countries of the region. The necessity of linking public health data with economic data and presenting briefs to policy makers to convince them of the importance of addressing the issue of mycotoxins was also emphasized.
56. The Working Group emphasized the need for prevention of mycotoxins through the application of GAPs and education of producers and farmers. The Working Group considered the potential value of using novel and micro-level approaches to reduce mycotoxin levels in foods.
57. The importance of accurate sampling for the assessment of mycotoxins was also emphasized. The Working Group emphasized the need for increased advocacy, as well as for regular evaluation of the implementation of programmes to reduce levels of mycotoxins in foods in Africa.
58. The chairs of each working group presented the outcome of their group discussions in the subsequent re-convening of the plenary session.
59. Following the presentation of the report of the working group on “Food safety issues of regional concern”, the conference discussed various issues raised in the report. The conference emphasized that the magnitude of the problem of mycotoxin contamination of foods in the region should be reflected accordingly in the regional strategic plan. The conference recognized the need to make available to farmers, extension agents and food producers, simple tests to screen for mycotoxins in the field and in production settings.
60. The conference discussed the issues related to the safety of foods derived from modern biotechnology and acknowledged that the issues were very complex. Some delegations expressed their concern over the safety of such products and other legitimate factors. The majority of the countries present at the conference indicated their view that all products containing genetically modified organisms should be labelled as such. The conference agreed that the countries of the region should have a well articulated regional position on the various aspects of genetically modified foods for presentation in the relevant international fora, such as the Codex Committee on Food Labelling and the Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology, the World Trade Organization, and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The conference agreed that discussions on the safety of foods containing genetically modified organisms is dealt with at the above-mentioned Codex Committees and that countries of the region should communicate their positions on this matter to the secretariats of these committees, keeping the FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee for Africa (CCAfrica) informed of their positions.
61. The conference noted that developing a regional position on this matter would be difficult in this conference because of the multiple facets of this issue and the need to involve various stakeholders. Some countries did express reservations to developing a common position on the matter at this conference, as the scientific information available to the conference was not complete. It was suggested that the matter could be further discussed through an electronic discussion forum to develop a regional position on the issue. The conference stressed the need for countries to develop national regulations covering these products, taking into account their national conditions.
62. Following the presentation of the report of the Working Group on the revised recommended five-year strategic plan for food safety in Africa and related resolution, the conference suggested various revisions to the strategic plan and resolution, as well as the next steps for the implementation of the plan. The resolution and strategic plan, which reflect the outcome of these discussions, are attached as Annexes 11 and 12, respectively.
